


Curiosity Caught a Cat

by c0cunt



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, I'm Bad At Tagging, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, M/M, post-shatt, pre-shance, shiro is also a mess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-13
Updated: 2017-02-13
Packaged: 2018-09-24 02:43:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9696200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/c0cunt/pseuds/c0cunt
Summary: Shiro has been distancing himself from his friends and family for a long time.  All he really has now is Matt's cat, Zekrom.  At least, until a man crashes into his balcony to pet his cat.





	

**Author's Note:**

> -shrug- this was inspired by [this pretty art on twitter.](https://twitter.com/CrimblySun/status/827844273613611009) Saw Shiro with that giant flufferkitter, and I *had* to write about Shiro with a giant fluffy cat.

     Shiro was glad that he’d finally made it home - traffic was surprisingly light, and it was only 6pm.  He wasn’t surprised that, when he opened the door to his apartment on the fifth floor of his apartment building, that Zekrom wasn’t waiting for him at the door.  Shiro paused for a second, opening the door a little further for it to squeak loudly, and smiled at the hurried tinkling of a bell headed in his direction.

      “There you are, baby girl,” Shiro cooed, dropping his heavy messenger bag and bracing himself to catch the seventeen pounds of cat running at him, and getting a mouthful of black hair in the process.  Zekrom was probably purring as soon as she heard the door squeak open, and Shiro couldn’t help but smile as he kicked the door closed behind him, feeling his best friend purr against his chest.

     “C’mon, let’s fix up dinner, huh?”  Shiro suggested, after kissing the top of Zekrom’s head.  If possible, Zekrom’s purring grew louder, as Shiro carried her into the kitchen.  She wasn’t so pleased at being deposited on one of the tall stools away from the counter, while Shiro dug into the topmost cabinets for Zekrom’s dinner.  She meowed impatiently as while Shiro fiddled with the lid of her wet food can, placing her front paws on the counter to get a closer look, nose twitching excitedly.  Shiro tutted at her, causing a stare down between them for a few seconds, before Zekrom slowly sat back onto her stool.  Not even a minute later, her food bowl was placed on the floor (far away from her water bowl), and her face was almost instantly shoved into it.

      Shiro couldn’t help smiling like a fool as he watched his cat eat with gusto - it had taken her so long to get used to not having Matt prepare her food.  He had always been able to get the perfect ratio of wet food to dry food, and it had taken many disastrous nights since Shiro had come home to come close to that.  Not to mention all the nights that Zekrom had waited by the front door, crying...Shiro gripped at his Galra Tech prosthetic, rubbing where flesh met metal, as he vainly tried not to think about the accident.

      No one had come out and said it was Shiro’s fault, when the ambulances pulled away, but  _ god, _ did it feel like his fault.  One minute he had his arm around Matt’s shoulders, chuckling as Matt and his father pleasantly argued about what to do for Pidge’s 16th birthday, and then in the next minute there had been pain and blood and  _ he couldn’t move his arm and Matt’s eyes were glazed over, oh god someone help him… _

     Zekrom meowed directly in Shiro’s face, startling him out of his memories with a gasping breath.  She peered up at Shiro, worry somehow obvious on her fluffy face, cat food pate stuck just above her lip as she meowed again.  Shiro’s breathing and heart rate slowed, and he peeled his fingers off of the prosthetic just as slowly.  Once his real hand fell limply at his side, Zekrom reached a paw out repeatedly, obviously asking for pets.  Shiro chuckled as he obliged, after wiping the pate off of her face.

     “Good kitty,” Shiro breathed, leaning his head down to let her affectionately bump their heads together.  Zekrom had been Matt’s cat, but his mother was allergic, and Pidge frankly hated cats.  But she was good for Shiro, and it had been easier to slowly edge back to normalcy with her at his side.  He couldn’t even scold her for jumping onto the counter, something she only did when necessary; it was definitely necessary today, Shiro deemed, as he kissed Zekrom’s forehead before pulling away to start his own meal.  Zekrom meowed plaintively, obviously wanting to be pet more, and Shiro absentmindedly gave in, as he looked over his microwavable options in the fridge.

     He was...Still not a good cook.  For ages, it had been Matt who cooked, deeming Shiro a kitchen disaster, even though Matt wasn’t much better.  Still, it was better to have slightly undercooked pasta than charred lumps for dinner.  At least instant meals  _ existed _ nowadays.  Shiro would’ve been so screwed if they didn’t exist.  Or, worse, he would have to  _ leave, _ move back home and have to bear the silent disappointment from his mother and have to reassure his father that he was okay.  It was better this way, even if he was alone…

     Zekrom dropped from the counter with the unmatchable grace of a cat who knew what she was doing, bell collar jingling merrily as she trotted over to the sliding glass door to the balcony, no longer interested in staring into the fridge with her human.  With not nearly as much grace, sliding on his socks across the tiles, Shiro followed, and opened the door for Zekrom to do her nightly sitting on the balcony.  He watched as she picked the sunniest spot, sniffing delicately at the concrete, before flopping over onto her side for a nap.  Knowing that she would be fine, Shiro turned back inside to hunt up his own dinner, scooping up Zekrom’s empty food bowl as he went.

      Frowning at his small selection of food in the freezer (he’d have to order groceries sometime soon), Shiro whined unhappily as he shifted around the boxes.  He couldn’t eat the frozen pizza - it was Matt’s favorite, an impulse purchase at midnight a few weeks ago while drunk, as if that would bring him back.  There were three different types of frozen pasta meals, none of which seemed all that appealing….But there was a family sized box of mac and cheese, the good brand.  Shiro didn’t even want to have mac and cheese, but it was better than starving, and he tugged the box out of the freezer with minimal effort, looking for cooking instructions.

     While the oven preheated, Shiro changed out of his work clothes, tugging on soft, heather gray sweatpants, and a white tank top.  He grabbed his phone and checked his social media, finding only a message from Keith asking how he was doing, and an invite from Pidge to a house party.  Without even thinking about it, Shiro declined Pidge’s invite, and answered Keith that he was fine.  He almost felt bad, scrolling back through chat logs, and seeing that was as much interaction as he had with his best friends in the past year or so, but...He just...Didn’t have the energy to do any of it.  It was hard enough to get through work, feed Zekrom, and maybe scrounge up food for himself.  The oven beeped that it was ready, and Shiro shoved the pan of mac and cheese in.  Just as he closed the oven door, there was a loud crash outside, followed by a surprised meow.  Shiro nearly jumped out of his skin, and speed walked to the glass doors, and stared at the scene outside, surprised and more than a little confused.

      A darkly tanned man was hanging off his balcony, cooing at Zekrom, who just stared at him as he tried to reach a hand to pet her.  As Shiro watched, the man tossed his sweaty hair out of his eyes, and scrambled over the banister, somehow not tangling up his long limbs in the process, plopping himself down as if he owned the place, still offering out his hand to Zekrom.  She stared a little bit longer, sniffing at the man’s hand delicately, before allowing him to pet her.

     “Aren’t you handsome, big guy,” the man cooed as Zekrom scooted closer to him.  Shiro couldn’t help a loud snort, catching the attention of the man on his balcony, who nearly shot through the banister in surprise.

     “Her name’s Zekrom, but...How did you even get up here?  We’re on the fifth floor, and the fire escape’s over there…”  Shiro trailed off, pointing to the fire escape more than a handful of windows down.  The trespasser blinked his pretty blue eyes once, glancing over at the fire escape that Shiro pointed out, before he snorted unattractively.

      “I came from that way,” He said, pointing to the building across from them.  Shiro’s eyes widened, as he judged the distance between the buildings - it was much further than attempting to get to the fire escape.  Shiro figured that this man must be some sort of parkour expert, or something, judging by the way he grinned and nodded rapidly when Shiro gestured the way he had pointed.  Shiro wanted to tell this guy to get lost, to leave Zekrom alone, so he could retreat into the comforts of his apartment, but something stopped him.  Some stupid sense of wanting to be polite to a stranger on his balcony, that could be a murderer for all he knew?

     “...Do you wanna come inside for some pizza?”  Shiro asked instead, just as surprised by his own words as the stranger was.  Blue eyes blinked again, before he slowly unwound his limbs, suspiciously picking up Zekrom as he rose.  “Or if you’re actually here to attempt to rob me, take whatever, but leave Zekrom,”  Shiro continued with a shrug, as he stepped away from the glass door to allow his stranger to come inside.  

     “I’m not stealing anything or anyone’s cat!”  He exploded indignantly, following Shiro inside.  He noticed the pile of slippers by the door, and kicked his dirty sneakers off as Shiro hurriedly pulled the mac and cheese out of the oven.

     “Well, how should I know?  Some strange man shows up on my balcony just as I’m about to start dinner, and picks up my cat…”  Shiro trailed off, pulling the pizza out of the freezer.  His stranger huffed indignantly as he put Zekrom down, only for her to hop up onto her stool, at the perfect height to continue petting her.

     “I’m Lance, if that helps at all,” He said as he scratched Zekrom’s ears.  Her purring grew loud enough for Shiro to hear as he fiddled with the oven, making it hotter as per the directions on the package.  

     “Nice to meet you Lance.  Call me Shiro,”  He said, turning to face his no-longer-stranger.  Lance squinted at him for a second, hand stilling on Zekrom’s back, before pulling out his phone with a surprised sound and several quick taps.

     “You’re the same as this Shiro?”  Lance asked, practically plastering himself to Shiro’s front, and shoving his phone into Shiro’s face.  Shiro leaned back, his hand reaching up to steady Lance’s phone, and let out a surprised huff.  Lance had pulled up a photo of him and Pidge, from about two months ago, when he had joined him and Mrs Holt for a day trip at the beach.  Mrs Holt had taken the photo, after Pidge had convinced Shiro to build a sandcastle with him - probably the funnest day Shiro had experienced in a long time.  He didn’t know that Pidge had put those photos up online, but was pretty surprised by the caption ‘shiro takes a break for sand castles’.

     “So I guess you know Pidge?”  Shiro asked, feeling at least a little relieved.  Pidge may be a lot of things, but he was a good judge of character.

     “We’ve been on the same team at the Garrison for the past year,” Lance started with a surprisingly happy, bright grin.  That just led the pair of them to talking about their experiences at the Garrison, and the conversation eventually meandered to more about themselves than school.  

     The pizza was eventually pulled from the oven, mostly burnt, and Lance offered to spring for delivery - an adventure in compromising, as Shiro discovered, because Lance couldn’t just get  _ Pizza Hut, _ it had to be  _ fancy pizza. _  $40 for two pizzas later, with Zekrom spread across their laps as they chatted on the loveseat, and Shiro had a feeling he was doomed.  The good kind of doomed.  Especially once it was late, and Lance shyly asked for his number (“So next time I don’t have to drop onto your balcony,” Lance had joked, both of them blushing furiously).

     That night was the most fun that Shiro had had with someone in a long time, and he stayed up much later than he intended to, thumbing out texts to Lance long after he’d left.  Shiro fell asleep that night with a hand on his phone, and Zekrom curled around his shoulder, a smile still on his face.


End file.
